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In response to the Prime Minister’s party conference speech, Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said: “Despite its billing, despite all the slogans on the stage, this was not really a speech about aspiration and building a country that works for everyone...

Sobering stories from paediatricians reveal health impact on millions of UK children living in poverty. Poverty and low income is seriously affecting the health of UK children according to paediatricians – and any new Government must tackle health inequalities or risk storing up health problems for future generations.

Parents working on the ‘national living wage’ still can’t earn enough to provide an acceptable minimum living standard for their children despite flat (and now falling) inflation and a drop in core household costs like food and energy – even if they both work full-time, warns a new report.

In 2014-15, UK child poverty increased by 200,000 to 3.9 million (after housing costs). 66% of poor children live in working families (up from 64%). London remains UK region with highest rate of child poverty (37%).

Responding to the Prime Minister’s speech on life chances and parenting today, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said: “Of course parenting is difficult - and the most important job there is - but it is a whole lot harder to give your children good chances in life if you’re on poverty pay and clobbered by sky-high housing and childcare costs...

Responding to the DWP’s own evaluation of the bedroom tax, published today, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham, said “The DWP’s own evaluation finds that the ‘bedroom tax’ is not only pushing families into hardship but it’s also failing to free up more accommodation for families, the key argument ministers used to justify this controversial policy...

Responding to the Autumn Statement today, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said: “The Chancellor’s half-solved the problem he created in the Summer Budget of how we help the low paid. His decision to drop the latest tax credit cuts is very welcome and will be a huge relief to hard-up working families but, as the Treasury’s own costings reveal, the significant cuts to universal credit mean that in reality this is only a stay of execution...

Parents working on the minimum wage are on the brink of a new crisis in family finances that will leave many stranded when it comes to meeting no-frills family costs, warns a new report produced by Loughborough University’s Donald Hirsch for Child Poverty Action Group.

Responding to today’s budget Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said: “The welcome move on a higher minimum wage cannot disguise the truth that this is a budget that damages the economic security of working families, and takes us further down the road to being a two-nation economy, with higher child poverty for millions and lower taxes for the better off...

Responding to today’s official poverty statistics (Households Below Average Income) Chief Executive of the Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said: "These figures make grim reading for anyone looking for progress on child poverty. Because, make no mistake, we are facing a child poverty crisis in the years ahead and the Government is not going to meet the child poverty targets it signed up to...